Pennsylvania court shoots down law allowing NRA to sue over local gun laws

Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, speaks about state court ruling overturning a 2014 law allowing the NRA to sue municipalities for tougher gun laws. Leach was lead plaintiff in lawsuit to overturn the law.

Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, speaks about state court ruling overturning a 2014 law allowing the NRA to sue municipalities for tougher gun laws. Leach was lead plaintiff in lawsuit to overturn the law.

HARRISBURG — A state court has struck down as illegal a 2014 law that had many communities, including Allentown and Bethlehem, fearful of being sued by the National Rifle Association if they enacted tougher gun laws than allowed by state law.

The cities, citing a promised appeal to the state Supreme Court, took a cautionary tone, holding off for now on trying to re-implement stricter local gun laws.

Commonwealth Court's 7-0 ruling, issued Thursday, says Act 192 violated the state constitution's "single-subject" rule, which prohibits unrelated topics from being cobbled together into a single piece of legislation.

The court said the provision, which gave any in-state or out-of-state organization, including the NRA, the ability to sue Pennsylvania municipalities over tighter gun laws had no bearing on the bill's original intent — dealing with scrap metal thefts.

Matt Couglin, The Morning Call

Morning Cal l file photo: A woman who was grazed by a bullet is wheeled away on a gurney after an attack about 10:10 a.m. Thursday (May 28) outside a corner shop at Eighth and Washington streets in Allentown.

Morning Cal l file photo: A woman who was grazed by a bullet is wheeled away on a gurney after an attack about 10:10 a.m. Thursday (May 28) outside a corner shop at Eighth and Washington streets in Allentown. (Matt Couglin, The Morning Call)

The law "clearly, palpably and plainly violates the single-subject requirement," Judge Robert Simpson wrote for the court.

Democratic lawmakers, gun-safety advocates and municipal leaders hailed the decision. The law subjected some municipalities to lawsuits and prompted dozens of others, including Allentown and Bethlehem, to repeal various firearms statutes under fear of being sued.

"This is a major victory for public safety and the rule of law in Pennsylvania and a major defeat for the NRA," Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, said at a Capitol news conference. Leach used to work as a lawyer in Allentown and was a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, said municipalities now should have the courage to put their ordinances and resolutions back on the books. Like Leach, he bid good riddance to a law they believe was rammed through the Legislature as a favor to the NRA.

"They were wrong," Farnese said of its backers. "Very simply, they were wrong."

"We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling," said Jonathan Goldstein, an attorney for the NRA. "We think the standard they applied creates an unworkable legislative process."

In February, Allentown repealed its prohibition on carrying guns in city parks or on city property, as well as its requirement that gun owners report lost and stolen weapons, after concluding that keeping them in place would have been too risky, solicitor Susan Ellis Wild said.

"It really pained us," she said, "but there was no way we could afford a lawsuit from the NRA."

Similarly, Bethlehem removed from its books an old gun permit fee. City officials said it had been years since the fee was collected.

The state law targeted cities and suburbs alike.

"This law was clearly unconstitutional from the outset and designed to threaten Pittsburgh and other cities trying to protect their neighborhoods from illegal guns," Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said in a statement.

Lower Makefield Township, Bucks County, was forced to repeal its ordinance banning firearms in parks, said Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks.

"In Lower Makefield, you cannot smoke in a public playground, but you can carry a gun," he said at the Capitol. "Lower Makefield, today we are vindicated."

Pennsylvania has long prohibited its municipalities from enforcing firearms ordinances that regulate the ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of guns or ammunition. Gun-rights groups complained that scores of municipalities ignored the 40-year-old prohibition by approving their own gun restrictions.

The NRA seized on the new state law to challenge gun measures in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster. None of those lawsuits has been decided, and judges presiding over them might delay rulings until the state Supreme Court takes up the issue of the law's constitutionality.

The Republican-controlled Senate expects to take the fight to the state's highest court.

"We are reviewing the court's decision and anticipate that we will file an appeal with the Supreme Court in order to vindicate the Legislature's ability to enact meaningful changes to the law," said Jenn Kocher, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre.

The original scrap metal bill was introduced in 2010. It's prime sponsor, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, described its intent in a memo to the House: "Stealing copper and other metals from utilities can cause major electric outages, and expensive repairs impact ratepayers. Consequently, this legislation creates the offense of theft of secondary metal."

In 2013, Metcalfe's bill was passed by the full House. It moved to the Senate.

On Sept. 23, 2014, the House amended Stevens' bill to give the NRA and other national gun advocates the right to sue municipalities and counties for enacting gun laws. The amended bill allowed the NRA and others to recoup legal fees and punitive damages from Pennsylvania taxpayers if they were successful in overturning the law.

The House passed Stevens amended bill, but it died in the Senate. The Senate then incorporated the NRA lawsuit provisions, and Stevens' mental health check plan, into Metcalfe's scrap metal bill, which it passed Oct. 16, 2014. Four days later, the House approved the Senate version and adjourned for the fall.

In legal papers seeking to throw out the lawsuit, Republican lawmakers countered that the bill was not illegal because the theft of scrap metal and firearms issues both fall under the state's Crimes Code. Republicans also said the bill was legal because it was fully vetted during "the open and lively debate in both the Senate and House regarding the final version of Act 192."

The court disagreed and voided the entire law.

"The original purpose of [the bill] pertained solely to the penalties for the theft of secondary metal, while the final purpose was altered so as to include, among other things, creation of a civil action through which to challenge local firearms legislation," Simpson wrote. "Clearly, these are vastly different activities."